Washinqt



(No Model.)

W. H. JOHNSON. HAMB FASTENING.

NITED STATEs PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, OF DELHI, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GURDEN E. MAXWELL, OF SAME PLACE.

HAME-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 493,214, dated March 7, 1893.

Application filed May 28, 1892- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Delhi, in the county of Delaware and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hame-Fastenings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

.Myinvention relates to hame fasteners, and consists in a scroll shaped or other similarly curved lever acting linking portion attached to one hame, and having a long slot, retaining shoulder, operating handle and an entrance passage, in combination with a hooking portion attached to the other hame; said hooking portion connecting with the lever acting linking portion, either directly or indirectly. This combination serves as a means whereby to readily connect the hames to a collar and disconnect them from the'same, and also securely hold them upon the collar when in use.

It also consists in the scroll shaped lever acting linking portion, attached to a hame and havinga long slot, a retaining shoulder, handle latching-end, and an entrance passage, in combination With a hooking portion attached to the other hame, and having a looking slide with weighted handle attached to it, said hooking portion connecting with the lever acting portion either directly or indirectly, and its slide with Weighted handle, in conjunction with the handle latching end, serving for latching and holding the lever portion from displacement in the event of its being violently struck or forced downward and backward far enough to cause it to move too far out of its closed retaining position, which position it would ordinarily remain in, under the strain of the hames and their connections, without being latched.

My invention provides an exceedingly simple, convenient and effective means whereby hames can be readily connected around the horse collar and disconnected from the same 5 and, also, whereby the hames can, without much manual labor, be drawn together on the collar, retained securely in position when in use on the collar; can be adapted for different sizes and styles ofcollars and harness,

Serial No. 434,807- (No model.)

a strap or rope in one instance and a chain in the other. Fig. 5 is a front view of the fastener without intermediate extension as applied in a horse collar and locked. Fig. 6 is a similar view to Fig. 5, but showing the fastener unlocked, and Fig. 7 is a cross section on an enlarged scale, showing more plainly the construction of the latching handle and the locking slide.

A in the drawings represents the scroll le-- ver portion attached to one hame A and B the hooking portion connected to the other hame B. The portion A is formed with a scroll shaped loop a, a stationary stop shoulder 1), and two long branches 0, d, of different lengths, one of which has a handle latching end 0', an entrance passage g, which is closed so as to be readily opened, by means of a removable wire or leather thong h, and a bracket f, the branch at and the bracket f being perforated at ff and the branch 61 and bracket f being separated so as to form a passage g. Thus constructed, the portion A has a long scroll slot it between its loop a and branches 0, d, access to which for the hame ring or loop m, is afforded through the passage g, by withdrawing the wire or leather thong h. When the hame ring m is introduced into this slot it passes from the entrance passage g to the scroll-curved loop a and the strain on the hames comes 'upon it, as illustrated.

When the hame fastener is constructed as shown in Figs. 1 2, a fellow lever portion B, like portion A is provided, the same being in all respects constructed like portion A, excepting that, instead of having a handle latching end as c, it is provided with an eye end 0 and in connection with this eyed end and a retaining shoulder 12 of portion A, an extension-connecting, booking, and looped bar other figures.

C, is employed, as illustrated in said figures of the drawings. Instead of the hooked and looped bar 0, a chain, strap or other suitable extension-connecting device, as O or C may be employed as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4C. The connection, as either 0 or c or 0 enables me to adapt the lever-hook portion A, in conjunction with hooking portion 13, to different styles of hames or harness appliances.

D is a latching slide applied on the handle latching end of the lever portion A. This slide has a handle D by which it is operated. This slide is in form of a loop, and access of the latching end into the loop, is aiforded by means of a passage n in the lever portion A. The loop or opening through the slide is oblong, while the latching end of the lever portion is flat or broader than the opening across its shortest diameter, and of less width than the vertical, or diagonal, or longest diameter of said opening. By this construction, the broad flattened end of the lever portion A can be inserted into the loop of the slide through the passage 72, or endwise through the loop itself, the diagonal or longest diameter of said opening being long enough to permit this, and then by the weighted loop-slide turning so as to have the longest diameter of the loop at a right angle to flattened end of the lever A, the latching end cannot pass out of the loop of the slide. After the flat end is inserted, the entrance passage it may be re duced in size so as to prevent the flat latching end from coming out, by pressing the ends of the metal of the loop slightly toward each other.

In Figs. 5 and 6, I have shown the lever portion A connected directly to a hooking portion A formed with a long loop A, an eyed portion A and ahook A; and to the loop A the latching slide D is connected so as to operate in conjunction with the latching end a in the same manner as hereinbefore described. The loop permits the slide to move back and forth in order to effect the latching of the lever portion A to the hooking portion A This construction of the lever portion A is precisely the same as the lever portion A in the The lever portion A of the within described hame fastener by means of its long scroll slot atfords ample room for attaching the hooking portion A and then by its capability of being readily turned to its latching portion it draws the hames together, in which position it can be securely latched, this latter being effected by drawing the slide while in a horizontal position and then allowing its weighted handle to drop to a vertical position. It is also adapted for use with different sized hames or harness, either new or old, it being of light metal and can be bent or straightened readily to fit the hames and having no cold shuts there is no liability of breakage and very little labor of hand work is required, as the fastening is practically finished when cast in the sand. The cost of manufacturing the fastener is lessened, the fastener can be operated very quickly and easily; is strong light and durable and neat in appearance and has no ends swinging about, and is compact and close to the collar, and withal it enables the hames to be drawn very snugly, and when unlatched the lever portion and its connections remain attached to the hame.

hat I claim as my invention is- 1. A hame fastener, comprising jointed parts adapted to be connected to one another and to the hames, one portion of said fastener being constructed with a scroll slot, a retaining shoulder, a bracket and an entrance passage, and beyond said bracket with a lever handle, substantially as described.

2. The hame fastener comprising the portions A and I), each formed with a scrollcurved hooking end a, and an oblong slot h having an entrance passage g for the insertion and Withdrawal of the connections of the hames, the portion A also having a stop shoulder 1) and a flattened handle latching end 0'; and a latching slide D formed with an oblong passage for the reception of the flattened latching end 0', and provided with a weighted handle D, said slide being applied on the branch 0 of the portion B, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM II. JOHNSON. lVitnesses:

R. A. FRASER, CHAS. E. BELLER. 

